CHRIS ARA CHO: DESIGNER

Portrait by Kayten Schmidt

When you talk to Chris Ara Cho about design, she inadvertently brings to your attention the intricate details and process that shape great product, making you peer through the lens of a designer. Design is a clear passion, a thread through her career trajectory, from studying at Parsons, one of the world’s leading art and design schools, to working in fashion for brands such as Calvin Klein Collection, and now as the founder of LA-based HENRII Studio, where she is exploring design in a new context, creating lighting vessels in collaboration with her design partner and husband, David. Her meticulous eye is evident in the outcome: distinct objects that are contemporary yet timeless. Here she talks about her creative process, their collaborative dynamic and designing for interior spaces.

Text and Interview by Joy Kaunda

Chris, you worked in the realm of fashion and you’re now in the Design space as the founder of HENRII. What drew you to both disciplines? 

I’ve always been drawn to product. Something tactile that exists and is differentiated from another by its distinct shape, texture, color… the way it moves. Playing with proportions, and seeing your decisions take shape in front of you… It’s gratifying to see something coming into its own. And sometimes go beyond your expectations… It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, you keep waiting for those moments.  In fashion, you’re sculpting fabric, playing with proportions. When I started hand-building, it was the same, but with less gravity. It holds on to every subtle movement, it has memory. I like to think of object design as a still life of what I was doing with fabric. What I do now with lighting definitely plays into both disciplines. 

How did the idea for HENRII come about?

Initially, my intention was to design minaudieres…it’s an accessory from the 1930’s that holds small items like your compact and lipstick…I started making prototypes in my husband’s lighting studio using the different techniques they had been developing. I was so romanced by the idea of creating and carrying these beautifully shaped objects.  But, as I started sculpting the forms and considering their functionality as bags, I began to feel restricted. It didn’t feel right… I felt like it wanted to be something else. At some point we plugged a light bulb inside one of the models. Once we saw light pouring into the vessel, we couldn’t get it out of our heads. We knew we had something unusual.

 

Can you talk about the practice of hand building as part of your creative process?

I like how primitive hand building is. You’re taking mud and building with your hands. It’s extremely childlike, but also this ancient process that has been passed down through generations. I like the idea of pairing this with “developing a product”. In this case, lighting. As I was building out the collection, I wanted to capture the hand gestures and preserve their movement in our product. Bringing together this biopolymer material and hand sculpting created this textural skin that allowed the light to filter through. The coming together of hand-formed gestures and the material's response gave us a new typology. It has helped us establish our own textural language in the category of lighting.  

                                                               Studio Still Life

What resonates with you when it comes to design? 

I try to find the object’s ability to contextualize whatever experience it is supposed to give you. If you can find the beauty in its nuance, it really stays with you. I feel we’re constantly trying to establish that deeper bond between user and object. For me, a lot of times the connection is subtle and subliminal. The Chignon series for example, its job is to illuminate a room, to exist in your space without being overpowering. But when you happen to glance at it, the object will make you pause, and for that brief moment, it can hold your attention.

What design periods inspire you?

I love the extravagance of the art nouveau period, there’s so much to take apart and dissect there. I also love a Neoclassical painting, tapestry, sculpture...You’ll also find a lot of of Art Deco, and random Old World vessels and snuff bottle imagery in our archive of references. 

 "I feel we’re constantly trying to establish that deeper bond between user and object. Often for me, the connection is subtle and subliminal."

What do you want HENRII objects to bring to interior spaces? 

Our pieces are contemporary, but we want them to live amongst both old and new interiors. We wanted to create something that is different to everything else out there, but that could’ve also existed centuries ago. To present illumination to be the object itself. If light had a shape, what form would it take? We wanted to contribute something unique, a little strange, yet so timeless it can live across the ages. 

Left: Chignon No.8 Right: Chignon No.1

Can you talk about the collaborative dynamic with you partner?

My partner who is also my husband David is the brains behind the actual engineering of the lighting vessels. He has an industrial design background, and I fashion, so we get some interesting outcomes. We’re in constant dialogue over ideating the collections. We argue a lot, and at times emotions can run very high.  But when it comes together in the end, it’s the best feeling, that I’ve created something with him. This is an entirely new venture and partnership for us. We’ve been together for a really long time, so its been a little strange to learn so much about him at this point in our relationship. Needless to say, there’s a lot of heart in our product. 

 

Artists who resonate with you at present?

I seem to regularly come back to Jean Cocteau’s work, mostly his films. My understanding of Cocteau is ever changing, since I’ve come across it at different moments in my life.  Any time I revisit his work, I pick up something new, or find myself interpreting it with a new perspective... I’d like to think his work will be an ongoing research, and I’ll continue to stumble on something new and unusual each time.

His irreverence and unpredictability does a good job of reminding me nothing is as it appears, and its one long mystery for you to solve. Throughout his career he was constantly evolving his philosophy through film, poetry, painting...all his channels were open, and constantly shifting. His work reminds me to be open, and to not be afraid to leave something good, for something extraordinary. It makes me want to explore the beauty in the strange and less obvious.

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